Inking mechanism for intaglio printing presses



April 22, 1941. A. ROSENTHAL INKING MECHANISM FOR INTAGLIO PRINTING PRESSES Filed Sept. 11, 195E) Patented Apr. 22, 1941 INKING MECHANISM FOR INTAGLIO PRINTING PRESSES Arthur Rosenthal, Grand Rapids, Mich., assignor to Rose Patch A; Label (10., Grand Rapids,

Mich.

Application September 11, 1939, Serial No. 294,273

6 Claims.

This invention relates to intaglio printing presses and particularly to such presses for printing dyestuffs on labels or gravure inks or water colors on greeting cards or the like. It has for its objects:

First, to produce a new and improved press of the type above mentioned.

Second, to provide such a press in which a novel arrangement of parts results in very material savings in the ink employed.

Third, to provide such a press in which paper die wipes are completely eliminated.

Fourth, to provide such a press in which the saving of ink and die wipe is effected even though a split fountain is employed for inking the dies.

Other objects and advantages pertaining to details and economies of construction and operation will appear from the description to follow. The invention is defined in the claims. A preferred embodiment of my invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective View of a portion of an intaglio press embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a detail sectional view showing a portion of the press shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a view showing the type of split foun tain which may be employed in connection with my invention.

The press I is of conventional type and has a suitable base 2 on which is mounted the reciproeating die carrier 4 which carries the die 5 between the fountain inking roll 6 and the press head 1 so that the die may be inked between impressions. The means for reciprocating the carrier are not shown since they form no portion of this invention. Directly above the path of the die carrier is a plunger 8 which carries an inclined doctor bar 9 which scrapes the ink from the face of the die as the die moves to the left as viewed in Fig. 2 from the fountain to the press head. The doctor bar has an inclined blade and a trailing scraping edge Ill. The plunger 8 is reciprocated by means not here described because they form no part of the invention so that the doctor bar is in position to scrape ink from the die as it moves from the fountain to the press head but is raised to permit free passage of the die between the press head and the fountain.

Carried on the fountain in order to clean the doctor bar is an apron or trough i! pivoted at l2 on the carrier on an axis transverse to the line of movement of the carrier. A scraper blade 5 projects from the edge of the apron H parallel to the doctor bar and opposed thereto with its edge engageable with the face of the doctor bar as the carrier 4 reciprocates past the doctor bar on its passage from the fountain to the press head. Spring l4 attached to pin 15 on the apron and pin IS on the carrier 4 urges the pivoted apron i i in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 2, so that the scraper blade [3 will be held resiliently in the path of the doctor bar 9 during the movement of the carrier from the fountain to the head so that the scraper 13 will engage the face of the doctor bar 9 and remove any ink collected there as indicated at IT. The apron H serves to carry the ink from the scraper blade 13 to a container I8 which is mounted on the carrier 4 for movement therewith.

When a split fountain such as is shown in Fig. 3 is employed using inks of different colors, I provide for the salvage of ink by providing partitions I9 and 20 extending from the scraper i3 along the apron I I adjacent but on opposite sides of the line of division 2| of the split fountain which consists of the containers 22 and spaced rollers 23. The container 3 is provided with similar partitions 24 and 25. The ink from the two sides of the split fountain is thus kept separate. At the center of the scraper bar between the partitions l9 and 20 there may be an intermingling of the two inks, but the partitions i9 and 20 confine the mixed ink and serve also to direct the unmixed ink to the container where it is retained to be used again in the operation of the press.

It will be apparent that although I have shown only a fountain having two divisions, it will be possible to employ my invention in connection with a fountain having more divisions by simply providing the requisite number of partitions properly spaced on the apron If and in the container I8.

I have found that my invention can be used with entire satisfaction in printing or engraving labels on an intaglio press where dyestuff is employed as the ink, although other inks could be employed with entire satisfaction.

It will be apparent that very material savings in ink can be effected by the use of my invention because practically all of the ink scraped from the die is salvaged and none of the ink is wasted on paper die wipes which have been heretofore employed to clean the face of the die. It will be also apparent that there will be a material saving in eliminating this die wipe paper which cannot be salvaged. The elimination of ink from the face of the doctor bar cleans the blade so that it is capable of cleaning the ink from the face of the die sufficiently so that a perfectly clear impression free from smudging is obtained.

The terms and expressions which have been herein employed are used as terms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention, in the use of such terms and expressions, of excluding any equivalents of the features shown and described, or portions thereof, but it is recognized that various modifications are possible within the scope of the invention claimed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In an intaglio printing press having a die, a split fountain and a press head, a die carrier reciprocating between the fountain and the head, a doctor car for scraping ink from the fac'eof the die during reciprocation of the die carrier between the fountain and the head having an inclined bladewith a trailing scraping edge, means to remove ink from the doctor bar between die scraping operations comprising an apron resiliently pivoted on said die carrier on an axis transverse to the movement of said die carrierand carrying at one edge thereof a scraper blade disposed parallel with and opposed to said doctor bar and having its edge engageable with the face of said doctor bar on reciprocation of said die carrier between the fountain and the head, and partitions extending from said scraper blade along said apron adjacent but spaced from the line of division of said fountain.

2. In an intaglio printing press having a die, die inking means and a press head, a die carrier reciprocating between the inking means and the head, a doctor bar for scraping ink from the face ofthe die during reciprocation of the die carrier between the inking means and the head having an inclined blade with a trailing scraping edge, means to remove ink from the doctor bar between die scraping operations comprising an apron resiliently pivoted on said die carrier on an axis transverse to the movement of said die carrier and carrying at one edge thereof a scraper blade disposed parallel with and opposed to said doctor bar and having its edge engageable with the face of said doctor baron reciprocation of said die carrier between the inking means and the head.

3. In an intaglio printing press having a die, die inking means and a press head, a die carrier reciprocating between the inking means and the head, a doctor bar, means supporting said doctor bar in position to scrape ink from the face of said die during the reciprocation of the die carrier between the inking means and the head, and means to remove ink from the doctor barbetween die scraping operations comprising a scraper carried by said die carrier and means holding said scraper resiliently in position to intercept and scrape ink from said doctor bar on each reciprocation of said carrier, and means to receive from said scraper ink scraped thereby from said doctor bar.

4. In an intaglio printing press having a die, die inking means and a press head, a die carrier reciprocating between the inking means and the head, a doctor bar, means supporting said doctor bar in position to scrape ink from the face of said die, during the reciprocation of the die carrier between the inking means and the head, and m ans to remove ink from the doctor bar between die scraping operations comprising a scraper carried by said die carrier and means holding said scraper resiliently in position to intercept and scrape ink from said doctor bar on each reciprocation of said carrier.

5. In an intaglio printing press having a die, a split fountain and a press head, a die carrier reciprocating between the fountain and the head, a doctor bar, means supporting said doctor bar in position to scrape ink from the face of said die during the reciprocation of the die carrier between the inking means and the head, and meansto remove ink from the doctor between die scraping operations comprising a scraper carried by said die carrier in position to intercept and scrape ink from said doctor bar on each reciprocation of saidcarrier and means to receive from said scraper ink scraped thereby fromsaid doctor bar comprising containers spaced from one another on opposite sides of the line of division of said split fountain.

6. In an intaglio printing. press having a split fountain, a doctor bar for scraping the die after each inking thereof, a scraper for said doctor bar,

means for moving said scraper across said doctor bar along the line of division of said split fountain between die scraping operations, and means to receive the ink scraped from said'doctcr. bar by saidscraper comprising containers spaced from one another on opposite sides of the line of:

division of said split fountain,

ARTHUR ROSENTHAL. 

